US Failure to Screen for Sleep Apnea Caused 2 Recent Train Crashes

02:20 07 february 2018

02:20 07 february 2018 Source:
The New York Times

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The lack of screening to detect sleep apnea undoubtedly contributed to the derailment. Unfortunately, they are not rare. Recent evidence shows an increased recognition that sleep disorders contribute to many train crashes .

Train engineer can’t remember last few seconds before crash , was severe sleep apnea the culprit? Booker, the U.S. senator from New Jersey, said the report on the Hoboken crash , and a recent Santoro, the NJ Transit leader, said in addition to screening its engineers for sleep apnea

A New Jersey Transit commuter train crashed inside the Hoboken Terminal in 2016, killing a bystander and injuring more than 100 others.

After finding that the engineers in two recent commuter train crashes in the New York metropolitan area suffered from sleep apnea, federal investigators questioned the Trump administration’s reversal on requiring tests for the disorder.

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Two commuter train crashes in the New York City area are being blamed on sleep apnea . These aren’t the first accidents sleep apnea has caused . Because of that, some companies (including MetroNorth and the LIRR) have started screening train operators, truck drivers, and other employees

At a hearing in Washington on Tuesday, the chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board said he was “mystified” by the withdrawal last year of a proposed federal rule on screening train crews for sleep apnea. The safety board officially concluded that the engineers’ fatigue and their employers’ failure to screen for sleep apnea caused the two similar crashes — one in Hoboken in late 2016 that killed one person and another in Brooklyn about two months later.

“The public deserves alert operators,” said the chairman, Robert L. Sumwalt. “That’s not too much to ask.”

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Mr. Sumwalt, who led the three-member board through the hearing in Washington, had just returned from the scene of Sunday’s Amtrak crash in South Carolina that killed an engineer and a conductor. The cause of that crash appeared to be the unexpected diversion of the Amtrak train onto a portion of track known as siding, where it ran headlong into a parked freight train.

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Undiagnosed sleep apnea was recently cited as a probable cause in the crash of two New York City commuter trains . Sleep apnea increases the risk of high blood pressure, stroke, obesity, and diabetes, and is also associated with irregular heartbeats and heart failure .

NJ Transit didn't screen engineer for sleep apnea before Hoboken crash , records show. 29, 2016, crash , but offer no conclusion on its most likely cause . One person was killed and more than 100 others were injured. That train 's engineer also had sleep apnea .

The crashes in Hoboken and Brooklyn — both involving trains that ran off the end of a track — were just two of many examples of crashes the board investigated that involved driver fatigue, Dr. Nicholas Webster, the board’s medical officer, said. Screening crew members for obstructive sleep apnea, which disrupts breathing during sleep and causes drowsiness, is simple and inexpensive, Dr. Webster said.

But many railroads have not routinely screened their workers and the Federal Railroad Administration has not ordered them to do so. The railroad administration had proposed mandating screenings for sleep apnea, but withdrew that proposal in August 2017, as part of the administration’s effort to reduce regulations.

The crash in Hoboken involved a New Jersey Transit train that accelerated as it approached the terminal. Carrying at least 250 passengers, it ran through a bumping post at the end of the track and collided with the wall of the waiting room, killing a bystander and causing about $6 million in property damage.

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A more recent article on obstructive sleep apnea is available. UNCOMMON CAUSES . Occasionally, obstructive sleep apnea can be caused by less common medical problems, including hypothyroidism,21 acromegaly22 and renal failure .

At Atlantic Terminal, more than 100 non-life-threatening injuries were reported when an LIRR train with six cars hit the end of Track 6 of the Brooklyn transit hub, causing .9 million in damage, the NTSB said. Immediately following the crash , the MTA announced it was expanding sleep - apnea screenings

After the crash, the engineer was diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea, Dr. Webster said. He had been screened in 2013 and found to have risk factors for the disorder, which include obesity, but he was not referred for further study, Dr. Webster said. The engineer weighed 322 pounds at the time of the crash in late September 2017 and had gained 90 pounds in four years, he said.

Dr. Webster said New Jersey Transit was unable to locate the results of the engineer’s most recent screening. But he said that, since the crash, New Jersey Transit had screened all of its crew members for sleep apnea and had taken those who required treatment out of service. The engineer involved in the Hoboken crash has not been allowed to return to work.

Mr. Sumwalt applauded New Jersey Transit for that decision, saying, “I know it is not popular, but it is the right thing to do.”

Nancy Snyder, a spokeswoman for New Jersey Transit, said the agency was “pleased that the N.T.S.B. acknowledged our aggressive sleep apnea screening protocol” and said the railroad is “developing a technology solution to enforce civil speeds at terminal stations.”

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Democratic lawmakers have recently proposed two new bills that would require the FMCSA to issue a final rule that would force truck drivers and train conductors to be screened for sleep disorders like sleep apnea .

The other crash the board considered involved a Long Island Rail Road train that ran through a post at the end of a track at the Atlantic Terminal in January 2017. Nobody was killed, but more than 100 people were injured and the accident caused more than $5 million in property damage.

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The NTSB has cited sleep apnea in the probable cause of 10 highway and rail accidents in the past 17 years, including an undiagnosed case in the engineer of a Metro-North Railroad commuter train that sped into a 30 mph curve at NJ Transit had a screening program at the time of the Hoboken crash .

«» NTSB Finds Sleep Apnea Contributed to 2 Derailments. The engineers of two commuter trains that Sleep issues have been blamed in several recent rail crashes , including an undiagnosed case of sleep In August, federal regulators abandoned plans to require sleep apnea screening for train

In that crash, investigators determined that the engineer fell asleep as he was bringing the train into the terminal. The Long Island Rail Road had not screened its drivers for sleep apnea before the crash, but has begun doing so, Dr. Webster said.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates the Long Island Rail Road, said in a statement, “The M.T.A. has an established an aggressive sleep apnea screening and treatment program for all train and bus operators and locomotive engineers in line with the NTSB’s recommendations and we are moving forward with this program, even in the absence of a federal mandate.”

After the Hoboken crash, New Jersey Transit began having a conductor move into the driving cab alongside the engineer as a train enters a terminal. Long Island Rail Road had been scheduled to adopt that procedure the day of the crash in Brooklyn, one of the investigators, Ted Turpin, told the board.

But Mr. Turpin said there was no data to show that having two people in the cab was any safer. “We have accidents with two people in the cab all the time,” he said.

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It’s now official: The train engineer from last year’s deadly train derailment was found to have severe obstructive sleep apnea , where he stopped breathing 65 times per hour. To date, there’s no conclusive proof that the crash was a direct result of his untreated sleep apnea

Could sleep apnea be the cause of three recent local Four years after a Metro-North train engineer fell asleep at the switch and caused a crash that killed four people and injured 63, the MTA is finally signing the contracts to conduct sleep apnea screening across all of its divisions.

Indeed, in the Amtrak crash in South Carolina on Sunday, the engineer and conductor who died were both in the front of the train, according to the safety board.

The safety board also determined that even with their engineers asleep or not fully alert, both of the trains that crashed could have been stopped by an automatic-braking system known as Positive Train Control. The Federal Railroad Administration has ordered railroads to have the technology installed and operating by the end of this year.

But New Jersey Transit and the Long Island Rail Road have received waivers from that mandate for the terminals where the crashes occurred. Positive Train Control, which uses satellites to locate trains, was designed to slow speeding trains on mainline tracks. Installing it inside terminals, where many tracks come together, often beneath roofs or underground, is difficult.

Still, the safety board concluded that “the lack of either a device or a safety system that could have intervened to stop the train before the collision” was a factor in each of the crashes. The board recommended a requirement that intercity railroads implement technology that will stop a train before it reaches the end of a track.

Follow Patrick McGeehan on Twitter: @NYTpatrick

Drowsy driving could be deadlier than first thought .
New research from AAA says drowsiness could play a part in nearly 10 percent of all crashes . In the last month, 29 percent of drivers admit to being behind the wheel when they had a hard time keeping their eyes open.Researchers and police have long suspected drowsy driving was an underreported factor in crashes. Now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends adults get least seven hours of sleep a night. Researchers say when people get less than that and drive drowsy, it can be as dangerous as driving drunk, reports CBS News correspondent Kris Van Cleave.

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The lack of screening to detect sleep apnea undoubtedly contributed to the derailment. Unfortunately, they are not rare. Recent evidence shows an increased recognition that sleep disorders contribute to many train crashes .

Train engineer can’t remember last few seconds before crash , was severe sleep apnea the culprit? Booker, the U.S. senator from New Jersey, said the report on the Hoboken crash , and a recent Santoro, the NJ Transit leader, said in addition to screening its engineers for sleep apnea

The Conductors in Two Recent Train Crashes Had Sleep Apnea - www.health.com

Two commuter train crashes in the New York City area are being blamed on sleep apnea . These aren’t the first accidents sleep apnea has caused . Because of that, some companies (including MetroNorth and the LIRR) have started screening train operators, truck drivers, and other employees

Undiagnosed sleep apnea was recently cited as a probable cause in the crash of two New York City commuter trains . Sleep apnea increases the risk of high blood pressure, stroke, obesity, and diabetes, and is also associated with irregular heartbeats and heart failure .

NJ Transit didn't screen engineer for sleep apnea before Hoboken crash , records show. 29, 2016, crash , but offer no conclusion on its most likely cause . One person was killed and more than 100 others were injured. That train 's engineer also had sleep apnea .

Obstructive Sleep Apnea - American Family Physician - www.aafp.org

A more recent article on obstructive sleep apnea is available. UNCOMMON CAUSES . Occasionally, obstructive sleep apnea can be caused by less common medical problems, including hypothyroidism,21 acromegaly22 and renal failure .

At Atlantic Terminal, more than 100 non-life-threatening injuries were reported when an LIRR train with six cars hit the end of Track 6 of the Brooklyn transit hub, causing $5.9 million in damage, the NTSB said. Immediately following the crash , the MTA announced it was expanding sleep - apnea screenings

Democratic lawmakers have recently proposed two new bills that would require the FMCSA to issue a final rule that would force truck drivers and train conductors to be screened for sleep disorders like sleep apnea .

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